Israel’s efforts to control the narrative of the flotilla raid that left at least nine dead and dozens wounded have come under increasing scrutiny, with more and more contradictory evidence coming to light. Less attention has been focused on Israel’s equally ambitious campaign to recast the nature of the blockade itself.
Anyone paying even slight attention over the past few years knows that Israel implemented the policy to deprive a million and a half civilians of adequate supplies of the necessities of life, such as food, water, medicine, cooking fuel, clothing, even children’s toys. The Israelis have been allowing in enough goods that they calculate are necessary to keep people from dying of starvation. The Israelis consider anything in excess to be “luxuries” that must be kept from the Gazans until they overthrow Hamas, recognize Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish State, free Gilad Shalit, or whatever is the cause du jour. Since the object of the siege was to compel a change of leadership, it had to be rigorous enough to cause severe pain to a large majority of the civilian population; mere inconvenience or annoyance would not do. Gazans had to experience real hardship and struggle for the Israeli policy to have even a remote chance of success. (It recalls Ariel Sharon’s phrase “moderate physical pressure” used to describe garden-variety torture, as if “moderate” suffering could persuade unwilling victims to reveal secrets.)
For years, Israel made no secret of its motives. Dov Weissglas, top aide to then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, famously said: "It's like an appointment with a dietician. The Palestinians will get a lot thinner, but won't die." In February, 2009, Senator John Kerry learned that many truckloads of pasta were denied entry because only rice, not pasta, fit the Israeli definition of humanitarian aid. Apparently, the Israelis were at least temporarily shamed into reversing this position. As recently as March, 2010, it was announced that Israel would allow in the first shipment of clothes and shoes in more than two years.
All that has changed, however, in recent weeks, as Israel and its supporters began to recast the siege as designed to prevent the importation of weapons to be used against Israeli civilians. Of course, Israel always had a policy of interdicting such arms importations. Had it merely continued that policy, there would have been virtually no controversy and no attempts to break the siege. Inspect the pasta truck and let it through.
The true (and undisputed) nature of Israel’s cruelty toward Gaza presented a potential public relations nightmare for Israel.
With unprecedented world attention drawn to the flotilla even before the lethal attack on its passengers, Israel naturally preferred to defend its position by creating an alternative reality. Rather than continue to admit that it was defending its “right” to keep purely civilian goods out of Gaza, the blockade was misrepresented as the only means to prevent the bad guys from importing weapons to be used against Israeli citizens.
Look how prominent Israelis and their supporters have changed the discourse. From the chief himself: “Mr. Netanyahu argues that the naval blockade is essential to prevent the smuggling of weapons into Gaza by Hamas, which is sworn to Israel’s destruction. But, he said Sunday: ‘We have no desire to make things difficult for the civilian population in Gaza. We would like for goods that are neither war matériel nor contraband to enter Gaza.’” This from the head of the government that has openly “desired to make things difficult for the civilian population in Gaza” by preventing the entry of “goods that are neither war matériel nor contraband.”
For sheer chutzpah, this is hard to beat. But that hasn’t stopped others from trying.
On June 3, the New York Times published two op-eds on the flotilla covering the gamut of opinion from A to B. Ambassador Michael Oren, who has expertly assumed the job requirement of designated liar, wrote: “There is little doubt as to the real purpose of the Mavi Marmara’s voyage — not to deliver humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza, but to create a provocation that would put international pressure on Israel to drop the Gaza embargo, and thus allow the flow of seaborne military supplies to Hamas. Just as Hamas gunmen hide behind civilians in Gaza, so, too, do their sponsors cower behind shipments of seemingly innocent aid.”
And Daniel Gordis of Israel’s Shalem Center, chimed in: “Life in Gaza is unquestionably oppressive; no one in his right mind would choose to live there. But there is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza; if anyone goes without food, shelter or medicine, that is by the choice of the Hamas government, which puts garnering international sympathy above taking care of its citizens. Israel has readily agreed to send into Gaza all the food and humanitarian supplies on the boats after they had been inspected for weapons.”
Then there is the comment submitted by the comically named Anti-Defamation League in response to a Huffington Post article by Josh Ruebner that compared Leon Klinghoffer to Furkan Dogan, the 19-year old Turkish-American killed on the flotilla. The ADL defamed Dogan as a terrorist, and added the following: “Israel is blockading Gaza because Hamas seeks weapons to attack Israel to fulfill its stated goal to eliminate the Jewish state. Israel stops weapons from going into Gaza; it allows basic necessities to go through after inspection. There is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza.”
Of course, one can always rely on the creativity of Alan Dershowitz to present the most imaginatively dishonest version of the events: “Israel responded to the rockets by declaring a blockade, the purpose of which was to assure that no rockets, or other material that could be used for making war against Israeli civilians, was permitted into Gaza. Israel allowed humanitarian aid through its checkpoints. Egypt as well participated in the blockade. There was never a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, merely a shortage of certain goods that would end if the rocket attacks ended.”
Wait a minute, Alan. If the purpose of the blockade was to assure that no offensive military material entered Gaza, how did that result in a shortage of certain (civilian) goods?
Which brings us to the curious use of the word “humanitarian.” In Israeli parlance, the meager scraps allowed the Gazans, theoretically enough to sustain life, are described as “humanitarian aid,” thereby allowing the Israelis to impose collective punishment on a civilian population yet still perversely claim the mantle of being “humanitarian.” If Gazans are not actually dying of starvation, and show no signs of extended bellies, there is no “humanitarian crisis” because Israel has ensured that “humanitarian supplies” enter the area. The Israeli siege of Gaza, which has at times prevented toys, clothing, and pasta from importation, has become a “humanitarian” effort to provide necessities to a people victimized by their own oppressive rulers, who would prefer that they starve to embarrass the Israelis as a means for acquiring weapons.
“Humanitarian” has become confused with “human experimentation,” which is precisely what the Israelis have been conducting in a grotesque effort to determine just how many calories are needed to keep a population alive.
Did this public relations effort really fool anyone?
Of course. Those who want to be fooled. Those who believed Israeli claims in December 2008 that an aid ship had deliberately rammed Israel’s naval vessel rather than the other way around. Those who believe that Israel has the right to sadistically deprive Gaza civilians of everyday goods, while screaming about Elvis Costello cancelling his Israel gig and other monstrous deprivations resulting from the BDS movement.
How does one make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear? I have no idea, but if you are interested, I suggest you contact the Israeli public relations machine. Piece of cake for them.
israel as resident dictator to the people of gaza.. sounds about right…
bizarre social experiment that israel is engaging in towards another culture… if someone did this towards israel, aside from the anti-semite rhetoric that would flow would they stand for it? the answer is no, so why do they continue to erode their image in the global community in such a direct and open manner like this? people aren’t fooled by any of it..
Israel’s motives and plans are laid out for all to see;
Schumer talked about Torah: Joshua’s plans for the destruction of Jericho underlie Israel’s actions and plans towards not only Palestinians but also Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Iran.
Israel’s leaders are psychopaths living out an Old Testament, homicidal agenda.
Lebanon is next, a proxy war with Iran.
god help us all. god help America’s Jews.
The American people are too stupified to recognize that a psychopathic criminal gang has overthrown their government and is holding their leadership hostage.
I will add my 2 cents here. Shimon Peres has along with a few in the military and rabbinic circle has declared Iran as “Amalek”. I thought it was always stupid Al Quida who refer to religious history to jutsify their behaviors.
I do wish someone would respond to this “no humanitarian crisis” bullshit by citing the report that Gaza is actually uninhabitable, owing to the lack of potable water.
And potsherd, the fact that unemployment is around 50% – with 20% of the population (300,000) living in ‘abject poverty’ according to the UN. Markets filled w/ smuggled goods mean little to families with no money.
Here’s Gisha’s updated list of permitted/prohibited items for June 2010:
link to gisha.org
I want this question answered: Israel’s whine was that if they only landed at Ashdod, Israel would deliver the humanitarian aid.
Well, all the humanitarian aid ships laden with goods were hauled into Ashdod.
Has Israeli delivered the goods?
Reports suggest that Israel attempted to deliver the goods and HAMAS rejected them.
Before the attack on the flotilla Israel’s MFA were saying that only unbanned goods would be sent from Ashdod to Gaza, so basically nothing from the flotilla would pass. From May 30:
“Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said that after a security check, permitted humanitarian aid confiscated from the boats will be transferred to Gaza through authorized channels. However, Israel would not transfer items it has banned from Gaza under its blockade rules. Palmor said that for example, cement would be allowed only if it is tied to a specific project.”
link to news.yahoo.com
After the attack when doing damage control the MFA’s position got more slippery. Mark Regev was all over TVs claiming things like “we offered to transfer all the aid to Gaza” which *sounds* very accommodating. The fact that the Free Gaza organisers turned Israel’s offer down was spoken about as proof they had illicit cargo or weren’t really interested in delivering the aid at all, when in fact they knew had they gone direct to Ashdod the cargo would be impounded
At a certain point (after the twitter conference with @Israelconsulate on June 5) I realised they were drawing a distinction between “cargo” and “aid”. In effect “we offered to transfer all the aid to Gaza” means none of the flotilla cargo would be delivered – as it fell outside Israel’s very narrow definition of aid. I never once saw a journalist pick Regev (or Palmor, or the female spokeswomen with the very un-military blonde locks) up on the distinction. I don’t know many even were aware of the deception.
Scrolling down I see TGIA has written more on these pathetic semantic games. I’ve read a few times Hamas are accepting “all or nothing” when it comes to the flotilla cargo..
“pathetic semantic games”
You’re obviously an anti-semantite. :p
Hamas didn’t allow in any of the aid.
Here is more info on what Israel attempted to send to Gaza and how it was not accepted by Hamas
link to haaretz.com
You don’t say why Menachem and neither does your article. Let’s backtrack three days:
“Islamist groups says Israel must free all activists and agree to deliver the cargo in full before it will allow in any of the aid.”
‘Hamas blocking entry of flotilla aid into Gaza’
link to haaretz.com
Now you you have to listen to this!!!
“It’s Official: There was No Humanitarian Aid on Mavi Marmara”
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has informed Israel’s representatives the world over that there were never any humanitarian supplies or equipment aboard the Mavi Marmara”
This list, they say, is not humanitarian aid!!
1. 300 wheelchairs
2. 300 new mobility scooters
3. 100 special mobility scooters for the disabled
4. Hundreds of crutches
5. 250 hospital beds
6. 50 sofas
7. Four tons of medicine
8. 20 tons of clothing, carpets, school bags, cloth and shoes
9. Various hospital equipment – closets and cabinets, operating theater equipment, etc.
10. Playground equipment
11. Mattresses
The MFA noted that:
“The equipment does not constitute humanitarian aid in the accepted sense (basic foodstuffs, new and functional equipment, fresh medicines).”
link to israelnationalnews.com
It’s the cover-up that kills you.
How does one make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear?
Or, put another way, “polishing a turd”.
Another glaring example of the hypocrisy and deception is the following:
1. Prior to the arrival of the flotilla, Israel’s spokespersons and politicians claimed that whatever Israel did not permit into Gaza, the tunnels supplemented that.
2. If the purpose of the siege is to prevent the importation of arms and weapons, then surely, the thriving tunnel business has allowed Hamas to continue to smuggle weapons despite the siege, all the while, the general population starves due to Israel’s insistence that it is not collectively punishing Gazans.
These two cannot be reconciled, certainly not in a healthy brain.
Avi is right, as usual. Both cannot be true simultaneously.
True, Avi, and in addition, Israel will not allow in concrete because it may be used to build tunnels that Israel says help to supply Gaza with civilian goods. Nothing, absolutely nothing, that Israel says makes any sense or has any consistency. They shoot from the hip, do not keep track of their lies, and the result is an endless stream of contradictory positions that 90% of the US Congress regurgitates as if it is gospel truth.
btw, the other “military” use of concrete Israel supposedly fears is to build bunkers, that is, defensive structures that protect bad guys from Israeli bombs. Israel, of course, is allowed to protect its soldiers and decision-makers from primitive Palestinian weaponry, but Hamas is not.
Yeah, I’ve noticed many a commentator saying that Israel just wanted to intercept weapons. Mostly, no one objected to this nonsense. Not a smart move as it makes one more skeptical of other claims.
I’m going to post very carefully (not violating the comments policy) since this site is heavily moderated to prevent dissent and silence anyone who opposes immoral and anti-semitism that prevails.
10,000 Jews were ethnically cleansed from their homes in Gaza, they remain refugees until they can return to their land in Gaza. Gilad Shalit is still in captivity, with no access to the red cross in violation of international humanitarian law.
Rubbish.
Illegal squatters being forced to move by the government that installed them isn’t ethnic cleansing. They were given generous financial packages and the majority moved to West Bank – again as illegal squatters.
If you’re going to make appeals to international law then don’t do it on a selective basis. All the settlements are illegal under international law as you well know.
Shalit *should* be released, and so should the 222 Palestinians currently imprisoned by Israel without charge or trial. As should the thousands of Palestinian political prisoners held by Israel. And the children prisoners.
link to btselem.org
Hmmmm…now the zionist propaganda machine wants everyone to believe their war crimes upon Gazans are really a humanitarian effort to make Gazan lives better and safer?
Interesting. The nazis used the excuse they were herding Jewish people into concentration camps for the safety of the Jewish people and for their well being.
If the nazis can do it, why not the israelis, eh?
Hey stern, shamir! Guess what?
“Since the object of the siege was to compel a change of leadership, it had to be rigorous enough to cause severe pain to a large majority of the civilian population; mere inconvenience or annoyance would not do.”
I question that is the real objest of the israeli brutality. I think they are trying to force the Palestinians to leave – ethnic cleansing.
Hayate,
Where would they go? Do you believe that Israel is just really inefficient @ ethnic cleansing?
Why did Israel pull out of Gaza and vacate their settlers if they wanted the Palestinians to leave? If there is true ethnic cleansing why does Israel ship in goods, provide the Palestinians with electricity, and allow them in for medical treatment?
I doubt the medical supplies that are allowed into Gaza, by Israel, are expired…..
Actually, yes, many of them are.
You might as well be a Holocaust denier spinning a web around the Warsaw Ghetto, Menachim.
Why did Israel pull out of Gaza and vacate their settlers if they wanted the Palestinians to leave? If there is true ethnic cleansing why does Israel ship in goods, provide the Palestinians with electricity, and allow them in for medical treatment?
If you know the answers to your questions, then why do you pretend?
First off, when Israel “disengaged” from Gaza it merely redeployed its forces around Gaza. But, that’s marginal. Ariel Sharon, who proposed the plan and pushed it through the Knesset, had something else in mind. The plan’s objective was two fold (1) He wanted to pad Israel’s international image and make it appear as though the Palestinians were stalling the so-called peace process. If the colonies were evacuated, Sharon argued, then the world we’ll see that Israel meant business, that it was serious about peace. (2) By evacuating the colonies of the Gaza Strip, Ariel Sharon sought to assuage US concerns regarding the two-state solution and its viability. Thus, evacuating the colonies, was a strategic calculation aimed at buying Israel some time with its American sponsor.
The events that transpired in the weeks and months after the so-called disengagement – the evacuation of said colonies – betrayed Ariel Sharon’s other motives, as well.
The colonialist settlers that were removed from the Gaza Strip were resettled by the Israeli government in the occupied territories of the West Bank. Furthermore, by taking the international pressure off of Israel and diverting public opinion from other projects, the Gaza evacuation facilitated and allowed Israel to intensify its Judaization of the Galilee – a long time pet project of Sharon’s dating back to the 1980s.
The reality is that Israel does not do those things. You can convince yourself that Israel provides Gazans with electricity, but electricity is in fact intermittent. And, Gaza pays for its electricity what little of it it receives, just like you – most likely – pay for utilities. Last year during the Gaza massacre, the UN reported that many hospitals, lacking fuel for their generators, and with no electricity, could not use life-support systems and ventilators to keep their patients, the injured and the premature babies alive.
As for the lie that Israel allows Gazans into Israel for medical treatment, it has been refuted numerous times by press reports. While Israel may allow the occasional patient in, the vast majority of heart patients, those requiring emergency treatment, transplants or radiation treatment are refused entry. There have been several famous cases involving children who died at the checkpoint while their parents were given the run-around as they tried to secure the needed paperwork and special permits.
Additionally, it is also well know – at least by those who care to know – that the Israeli military and Shin Bet have used medical treatment for leverage in attempts to force the patients or their relatives to become informants for Israel. Haaretz, the Red Cross and the UN, to name a few have reported in the past that several patients requiring critical medical care and treatment were refused entry when those patients voiced their reluctance to serve as informants and shtinkers.
Thanks for the response Avi, I still don’t see how that is ethnic cleansing.
The situation in Gaza is horrible, the siege is a disgrace, and the Gazans deserve much more. All I was saying is it doesn’t sound like ethnic cleansing to me.
The situation in Gaza is somewhere in between what I say and what you see, it is crap, but it is not ethnic cleansing.
Menachem, how far do you think israel has to go before the parallels become glaringly obvious to them????????????? they are obvious to most everyone else…
Hayate,
Does this sounds like ethnic cleansing:
link to newsblaze.com
Where every Zionist dupe goes to get the hasbara shovelled right down their gullets! Check the notice at the bottom of the “news article:”
You don’t get much more Goebbels than this.
“You don’t get much more Goebbels than this.”
Exactly. The difference between israeli/zionist propaganda and that of the nazis is that zionist propaganda is generally more sophisticated (not always, though, IE: american hate radio), generally more duplicitous and vastly more entrenched. The nazis were an isolated group of freaks, the zionists are mainstream. The goals of both, though, are essentially the same, as is the underlying ways of thinking. Only some of their victims are different, now. Only some of their victims.
Thanks sayanim menachem for providing further evidence that your 21st century nazi masters want to ethnically cleanse Gaza of all those impure, non-Jewish people.
You wouldn’t have taken the time otherwise. :D
Wouldn’t allowing zero aid, medicine, or diesel fuel but better evidence?
Hayate, where the Gazans going to go?
LOL, Sayanim, did you just read Gideon Spies(pretty good book) or something, you toolbox.
Follow-up.
Dr. Alan Sabrosky has recently written a piece in which he expresses the view that the israeli brutality towards the Gazans is at least in part an effort to force them to leave:
Israel’s Gaza Blockade
Letting the Chips Fall Where They May
by Dr. Alan Sabrosky / June 11th, 2010
In a gesture that has received more than a little attention in the Western media, Israeli officials announced with some fanfare that they were easing the embargo of goods they allow into Palestine. Israel’s supporters have been using the opportunity to declare that this demonstrates Israel is reasonable, and that US support of Israel is fully justified, even given the exceptionally tepid US response to the Israeli assault on the Gaza flotilla and America’s sustained opposition to any international efforts to hold Israel accountable for its actions.
This gesture becomes markedly less impressive once one examines the list of items once embargoed but now (at least for a while) allowed by Israel into Gaza. As a news website in India reported, “Palestinian liaison official Raed Fattouh, who coordinates the flow of goods into Gaza with Israel, said that soda, juice, jam, spices, shaving cream, potato chips, cookies and candy were now permitted.” Not much, to put it mildly, but to a suffering people in the ruins of their city, I imagine almost anything will be better than nothing. Besides, at least some of the aid supplies the Israelis have removed from the pirated Gaza flotilla vessels may end up in Gaza at some point, and that, too, will be something
But the announced easing of the embargo, slight or even less than that, is significant in a way I am certain Israel did not intend, and which may even make a few of its supporters just a little anxious. This is because it provides an interesting insight into the real Israeli motivation behind the embargo, and thus of the blockade itself, and not the one it professes internationally and its cabal elsewhere echoes so vociferously.
Consider, first of all, Israel’s defense of its blockade of Gaza as something that is essential for its security, with the accompanying embargo on products that it allows to enter Gaza officially being intended to deprive Hamas of anything that might strengthen its position there, and allow it to strike Israel anywhere with anything. This is the theme reiterated by Israeli officials when they halt land convoys and intercept sea-going ones, and applauded by its cheerleaders in the US Congress and the mainstream media in the US and elsewhere.
Then look at the once-embargoed items now allowed at least temporarily into Gaza. Potato chips?? Potato chips were once considered by the Israeli government as a staple of Hamas support, or a weapon that could threaten Israel, or both?? Now I confess that I personally have nothing against potato chips. In fact, I love them. But I cannot see how they constitute a threat to anything except possibly the health of the person consuming them. They make terrible bunkers, hitting someone with a bag of potato chips — even a large one — cannot remotely be considered life-threatening, and putting them into a catapult and throwing them at a Merkava tank or a nearby Israeli town isn’t going to be a threat to anyone.
So embargoing potato chips, like so many other items on Israel’s list in support of its illegal blockade of Gaza, has absolutely nothing to do with Israeli security interests — can we agree on this point? But it symbolizes a key aspect of the core Israeli strategy underlying the blockade, which is a blend of heavy-handed brutality and small-minded malevolence, designed first to ruin what little the Palestinians there have, and then to make sustained misery their present fare and future diet until they succumb and either go away, accept their Israeli overlords, or die.
This strategy of the collective punishment of a people — which is a breach of international law and a war crime, ladies and gentlemen of any legislatures and media outlets who have not checked their ethics into their respective Israeli embassies and consulates — is essentially designed to hurt Palestinians and not to protect Israelis. The Israelis understand this, as do their supporters overseas. The Palestinians in Gaza, and many in the West Bank, certainly understand that — even Abbas may on those rare moments when thought works its way through the murkiness surrounding it. And so do those who try, often bravely but usually unsuccessfully, to bring some humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza.
This knowledge alone isn’t much help. But it is always a good thing to really understand your enemy, and an enemy that has an affinity for dominance and inflicting deaths of a thousand cuts in the name of intangibles such as the Exodus theme, is very different from one that confronts you directly over tangible interests that permit compromise.
Too many of us — myself once included — for too long have viewed Israelis as just a particularly nasty variant of a type often seen in the world, something like semi-Semitic Prussians or an apartheid-era South Africa of the Middle East. They are not. They are much worse, and much more dangerous to all of us, than either of those — the Palestinians and Israel’s neighbors are just in the front line now. Their chips — and not the edible ones — are on Israel’s playing table now. Do any of the rest of us really want to sit back and wait for our round in the game to begin at Israel’s pleasure?
Alan Sabrosky (Ph.D., University of Michigan) is a writer and consultant specializing in national and international security affairs. In December 1988, he received the Superior Civilian Service Award after more than five years of service at the U.S. Army War College as Director of Studies, Strategic Studies Institute, and holder of the General of the Army Douglas MacArthur Chair of Research. He can be reached at: docbrosk@comcast.net. Read other articles by Dr. Alan.
link to dissidentvoice.org
The last paragraph is really the clincher, if you think about it. Remember that famous quote, “First they came for the x, I wasn’t an x, so I remained silent. Then they came for the y, I wasn’t a y, so I remained silent…” I’ve mangled it here out of laziness in not looking up the exact quote, but the meaning of where we stand remains. We put up with these fascists and become the new Jews in the concentration camps, figurtively and literally, or we put a stop to it.
oh give me a fucking break, who are you Ann fucking Coulter.
Is that the same Alan Sabrosky who tied Israel to 9/11? No anti-Israel motivation in his writing huh?
link to 911falseflagarchive.blogspot.com
Are you a truther Hayate?
It’s so much easier to kill the messenger.
I hate the expression ‘truther’. It’s the fault of those who will persist in saying that the official 9/11 story is a transparent load of nonsense, I suppose, for coining the slogan “9/11 Truth”. The truth is out there somewhere, but the obvious thing is that the official account is lies.
Bear in mind, Rowan, the same neoconservative lackwits who label people “truthers?” They all sent five thousand American soldiers to their deaths to find WMDs that were never in Iraq in the first place.
Not much consolation, but still.
Menachem June 12, 2010 at 1:31 am
You damn yourself and your sacred fascists, sayanim/hasbarat, and you do it far better than I could. Keep going, israel/zionists need people like to represent them in public. :D
Explanations of what these murderous and deceptive asses are “trying” to accomplish means little to nothing, it means nothing because an act of collective punishment is taking place in the process. If I said that shooting a person dead meant to teach them a lesson, what lesson did he learn? None, he is dead. If I said I did not like what a man said to me, and started to brutally beat up his four year old child I would be prosecuted for child abuse in a court of law no matter how much I said that I hated what the father of the child said to me. Collective punishment is collective punishment no matter what spin you put on the atrocity and punishable by international law.
What is taking place is collective punishment no matter what the stated goal of the act might be. The stated goal is the deception, it is just like I want to get the so-called terrorist so I drop a ten ton bomb on an entire complex of innocent people. It is just like claiming that a so-called terrorist hides among the people so all the people are killed in a spray of bullets to get the target – the very concept of “human shields” used as an excuse in the instance is unacceptable, and at best shows a disregard for value the lives of the innocent people.
Hasbarah continually gives new meaning to the word “humanitarian.”
So what’s new? In another area, what does BP’s announcement it is placing
tons of its dividend money in escrow while it seeks to fix the oil spout? Is that meant to assure its Brit pensioners/investors that their interest will be protected no matter BP’s liability and the cost of the fix? Or is it meant to assure all those American denizens of our Southern coastline (especially) that BP is determine to help them as first priority? Reminds me of the equally vague public announcements all the time that Israel’s security is first priority while simultaneously Palestinian concerns should be addressed, especially the impact of policies utilizing collective punishment. On other note of equal vague vocal spillage seeking to
please all converned parties, we now have Saudi Arabia’s carving out a piece of its air space to allow Israeli air power to attack Iran–the enemy of my enemy is my friend:
link to haaretz.com
Look for a double crowd pleaser from Obama’ spokesperson on this event?
This story about the Saudis opening their airspace is just a re-tread of an old story that appeared in just the same way, on a saturday, in the Murdoch-owned London ‘Times’. The form of these stories is very familiar to me, because of the many similar stories about Syria secretly itching to ditch Iran and crawl under mama USA’s skirts for comfort which have also appeared, not infrequently on saturdays in the Murdoch-owned London ‘Times’. They always turn out to have been planted by mad Israeli psywar boffins, who then arrange to have them re-imported into the Israeli press as hot foreign intelligence scoops. In any case, the Saudis have duly denied this tired tale, as they did on the previous occasion.
You’re correct, Rowan; at least that’s what I’ve been reading today.
Israel’s most egregious liess will always be found out, but it doesn’t matter
Compare Israel’s famous video reconstruction of the attack on the Mavi Marmara
link to youtube.com
and a photo of the actual ship
link to flickr.com
and concentrate on the radar dome, the round thing that stands on the deck. The two are quite different. The scene of the attack reconstruction is not even on the same ship.
Oh come on, Parker. You don’t really want to tell us these are two different ships. What a freaky conspiracy theory.
Schmok: In my dictionary the word is spelled schmuck NOUN: Slang A clumsy or stupid person; an oaf.
Schmuck
Have you actually looked at the ludicrously inept Israeli re-enactment of their fictional legend of the storming of the Mavi Marmara, in the face of a raging mob?
1) The video is supposed to be taken by a thermal imaging camera. The resulting I/R film normally shows virtually no grey tones. This one is full of grey tones, in contrast to the other one, which is probably genuine, and which shows the ship seen from above.
2) The Mavi Marmara has its name prominently emblazoned on the side. This one doesn’t.
3) The radar domes are different.
4) There are other discrepancies between the videos taken from the ship itself, and this concoction.
The whole episode stinks of a fake film put together utilising a sister ship to the Marmara, in the weeks of naval planning preceding the attack, when the Israeli Navy must have rehearsed their modus operandi in detail.
After all, the Israelis were facing some very unique precedents:
1) A high-sided ship which would be very difficult to board from launches alongside
2) A new racist factor; Turks. Israelis have not fought Turks before. Turks may be many things, but they are not known for their calm demeanour under attack. So the Israelis are busy smearing them.
Think again, Schmuck, and before you refer to me disrespectfully as ‘Parker’ again, think a bit more.
What it is is, the clever yanks teleported the real ship using the same secret alien technology they used on the Ethridge, the U.S. Navy ship which was turned invisible in 1943, in an episode known to devotees of the paranormal as the Philadelphia Experiment.
Because the withdrawal from Gaza was followed quickly by the coma of Sharon in January of 2006 and then the election victory of Hamas in January of 2006 and the capture of Gilad Shalit in June of 2006, I am not sure that one can assert what would have been the policy had the history been a bit different. But given the history as has occurred I think it would help a bit to clarify the needs of the Israelis and the needs of the Gazans. It is clear that a peace between Israel and the Palestinians is not on the near horizon and some kind of modus operandi vis a vis Israel and the Gazans must be achieved in the meantime.
The Israelis have sought to weaken Hamas by pressuring the Gazan population. What does Israel want from Hamas? They would like Hamas to sign onto the “contract” that the PA had signed when the PA was run by Fatah. This does not seem to be in the cards. Any expectation for such “progress” seems unreasonable.
Israel would like Hamas to allow Red Cross visits to Gilad Shalit. Hamas would like a prisoner exchange and does not seem to want to allow Red Cross visits. One possible reason seems to be that Hamas fears that Red Cross visits would enable a commando raid by Israel to attempt to release Shalit. If Shalit were handed over to a third party- Egypt and Red Cross visits allowed then, the chances for a commando raid would be highly reduced. There are things that Israel might be able to do to make the visits of Red Cross to Shalit seem valuable to the Gazan population. If visits to Gazans being held in the West Bank prisons that Israel runs were offered as an exchange for the Red Cross visits to Gilad Shalit, the Gazans might pressure Hamas to allow for such a quid pro quo.
The possibility of allowing unlimited shipments to come into Gaza via El Arish, with those shipments inspected by American or Nato forces seems to be a way to avoid the possible shipments of arms into Gaza, while still allowing other shipments.
This does not cover the whole range of issues, but should be considered a beginning of a reasonable discussion regarding how the situation vis a vis Gaza can be improved.
WJ reduction of the situation to the captured Israeli soldier and security is not only a stretch, it is patently ridiculous. Israeli needs have nothing to do with the atrocious behavior of the Israelis, the situation of the Israelis is purely the desire of the Israelis to act with impunity to cleanse or destroy the Palestinians so they never have to face any right of return issue. After all, the Palestinians did not end up in Gaza because it was such a wonderful place to live. The ended up there by illegal ethnic cleansing, and the same processes employed originally to cleanse them are still being used – it has only taken the form of a siege.
Here is a prediction for you WJ, there will never be a “American or Nato forces” allowed to intervene for shipments, because the aim of the Israelis is not security – it is either the destruction or ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians. Gaza will only be “improved” by the cessation of Israeli hostilities meant to either destroy or ethnically cleanse Palestinians, and the implementation of the right of return.
The only reason why Israel continues to commit these atrocities is to move the chess pieces away from the real issues, to create secondary diversions so they never have to face the bottom line of their initial act of ethnic cleansing. Than they eventually try to draw some good PR from the cessation or a compromise that somewhat alleviates their atrocious activity (“see, we can be reasonable”). They cause the opposition to sidestep the foundational issues (right of return) by becoming involved in secondary and diversionary activity created by their atrocious behavior.
I might add, while at the same time these atrocious activities have the aim of the destruction or ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians. Than, Israel’s “apologists” come in to emphasize the diversion as the primary issue (WJ), while they stall and at the same time hope their atrocious activity will result in further incremental cleansing.
Exactly.
‘Islamism’ ‘Gilad Shalit’ ‘rockets’ etc. etc.
None of that shit matters. Israel will always purposefully ignore the sanctimony in it’s ‘moral’ declarations.
WJ is a perfect example of this hypocrisy and cynicism.
What you enter in this entire process is a very sticky situation of never being able to identify who is still pushing for the foundational points. That is, anyone can decry the latest atrocity, so you can both have sincere individuals participating in the diversion, and plants that look sincere but are merely tactical players for Israel. Therefore the primary issues of the cessation of Israel’s ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians and the right of return have to be pressed, while you address the latest atrocious case scenario. Sometimes I feel like Toto –
DIVERSION AND REALITY
Or, you could look at it as –
NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL SLEIGHT OF HAND
No one has to accept those ridiculous premises. How many Palestinian militants, civilians, politicians, etc. are held in Israeli jails?
In every single facet, Israel is much worse. The Palestinians do not have to accept your legitimacy, you typical colonial Eichmann. They just have to outlast you as people begin paying more attention to the real Israel and not the bullshit image they’ve been fed all these years.
WJ, suppose Hamas did sign on to the Oslo “contract”, which is I think what you are talking about. Israel has already declared it moot and refuses to implement its side of the agreement. There is no reason to suppose it would abandon the siege of Gaza, no more than it has abandoned the settlements in the WB, the segregation, the roadblocks, the raids, the killings.
Suppose Hamas did allow a RC visit to Gaza and an raid or bombing resulted. What then? Does Hamas get to fire up its air force and bomb some prison where Palestinians are held? Send a force of commandos into Israel to free them?
There is no quid pro quo in the Israel/Gaza situation. There is only quo, no quid. Israel intends to keep Gaza as a prison indefinitely, forever, no matter what Hamas does.
Rashid Khalidi makes the point that Hamas participated in PA elections – the PA being a direct outcome of Oslo. It’s a de-facto recognition of Oslo. Interesting presentation by Khalidi on internal Palestinian politics:
‘Palestine: 40 Years of Occupation, 60 Years of Dispossession’
link to video.google.com
Let me help you understand .I dont expect this to change your views on the state of Palestinians. 25 th June 2006 Shalit was abducted by Gazan. 24 th June 2006 a family of Palestinian doctor with his was abducted and never been heard since then. -www.counterpunch.com
UNIFL has documented almost daily violation of Lebanese space by Isreali since 2000.
As of 2006 , at least 10000 Lebanse have been rotting in Israeli prison( a secret facility 1391 in central Israel)
One thing is sure , Shalit has been better treated that has been Vanunu.
Because the withdrawal from Gaza
There was no withdrawal. The settlers were relocated to another Palestinian territory, while the military re-arranged itself yet still kept occupying it.
All it was a calculated move to keep the settlers and the military active and doing exactly the same things they were doing before, except away from the eyes of the media.
As horrifying as the Gaza situation is, I hope Phil will open a thread or series of threads ASAP concerning alarming new steps in the direction of war—quite possibly, nuclear war—with Iran. The news is now that the Saudi’s have opened an air corridor to enable Israel to bomb Iran.
They are part of the three axis of religious evils. One is Israeli settler movement, another is Evangelical moron of armageddon dream team and the last is this corrupt misantrhopist Saudi elite.
armageddon dream team ..that’s about right. It would be funny, were it any less chilling. I agree as well with droog’s invocation of the oil angle, undoubtedly of major consideration.
I stayed away from all the predictions of the past few years, ie “an attack on Iran no later than august, 2007″ etc etc, none of which came to pass, but things right now have me VERY worried.
Israel seems absolutely intent on this lunacy and I believe it will get its wish. Perhaps it will wait around until Obama’s replacement–almost certainly a new rightwing lunatic–arrives. Or it may receive a nod and wink from the dreadful Obama, or go it alone or who knows what.
The Israelis are totally out of their minds at this stage—drunk off their asses on the lethal cocktail of omnipotence and paranoia.
I agree with your diagnosis of the majority Israeli mindset, I think it may have been Citizen who linked to this choice assement:
link to legalienate.blogspot.com
eli-prime-minister.html
who ever found it, class find, however I don’t think the Israeli tail is completely wagging the American dog towards Armageddon, however much it may seem that way. The America is content with the Status Quo and even the escalation in tension because it fits Don Sam’s gameplan and in the long run, is good for business, WW3 is bad for business and Don Sam knows it.
There is IMHO a question over how much control the Don has over the Goon, but I wouldn’t be suprised if any warring that does occur will be designed to be contained, i.e. no Israeli nuke strike on Tehran.
Have you seen ‘Goodfellas’; I see Israel as Tommy, about to be ‘made’ any day now, but still a useful idiot in the scheme of things.
corr. American Elite is content
Israel: “You think I’m funny? Well that’s what you said! YOU said I’m funny. What–you think I’m a little clown here to entertain you? Huh?”
(with apologies to Martin Scorsese)
..couldn’t get your link to work
I wish I could remember which post I saw it on, I’ll try again, it’s worth cut-n-pasting to see it.
link to legalienate.blogspot.com
Your link doesn’t work as it stands (link to legalienate.blogspot.com
eli-prime-minister.html)
But I think I found what you were referring to, which is seriously good satire on Netanyahu’s (and Israel’s) state of mind.
I assume that both Moshe Yatom and Yossi Belchor are named after common Hebrew words. Does anyone here know what they mean?
I agree with this recommendation. Mondoweiss needs to be opened out to include a bit more of the Mondo. Israel’s declared intention to attack Iran should be taken seriously.
So are their declared intentions to hit well-known high-profile Iranian atomic targets, and then skittle home before the shit hits the fan.
It’s the US that will have to clean up the mess, and as they sweep up and look towards Israel, they can say: ‘Yes, Massa!’
report here:
link to haaretz.com
hi DJ, I’m sure there’s some gaming going on by the Saudis here, of course the situation is complicated by the fact that much of the Sunni controlled Saudi Oil in under Shia inhabited areas.
I understand that you are upset with Alan Sabrosky, PhD, Professor,and military analyst and strtaegist. I am sure you would get upset with the Past President of Italy who asserted same that Mossad was responsible for 911.
Sorry , we cant help but wonder how did the 5 dancing Israeli know that 911 would happen ? The 5 decided to gather on Hudson river to film the events even before second tower was hit.
Why carl cameron expose on FOX was shut down after two part series on israeli involvement?
Why Brit Hume was told by intelligence that Israeli responsibility in 911 was classified information?
On its own merit the Flotilla incident is important,But what is missing is the response of the world to repetaed violation of basic human dignity,violation of UN resolutions ( 273 altogether against Israel),violation of borders of lebanon,Syria,violation of diplomatic protocols and international laws by Israel over last 40 -60 years. There is noise and ritual expression of sadness or outrage ( last one before Flotilla was murder and passport doctoring ) but then business as usual.
I would examine recasting it as a genocide prevention campaign:
Under article 2 of the 1948 Convention Against Genocide, the crime is defined as
any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life, calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; [and] forcibly transferring children of the group to another group..
Let the pro-current Israeli policies howling begin.
My post of June 1. I think it is still accurate.
link to rwitty.wordpress.com
The unfolding of events in Gaza were close to my worst fears associated with civil disobedience. Nothing went right. Every party reported on, acted in ways that were negligent, inciting, futile.
Specifically,
1. Israel allowed the blockade to both occur at all, and to occur over an extended period (in spite of agreements during the 2008 truce which were kept to a higher degree by Hamas than by Israel, and the unilateral cessation of shelling by Hamas in the past year)
I am extremely critical and distrustful of Hamas. It embarrasses me to say that Hamas acted with more consistency and integrity than Israel.
One primary theme I present consistently is to look at reality from multiple perspectives and time frames. That Israel did not apparently coolly review their practice of maintaining the blockade, at all and the form of it, both from the perspective of effectiveness and morality, is a grave negligence.
There were other options, particularly greatly increasing the allowed transfers over its land routes that could be monitored carefully as a border. It would have entirely eliminated the need for any flotilla by sea entry, and eliminated the “humanitarian aid” argument.
2. The fiasco of the manner of the confrontation with the Free Gaza flotilla. It will be discussed in Israeli and world press for a very long time.
Specifically, the ships could have been disabled underwater by relatively simple sabotage to the propeller, then towed into port. Instead, a frightening night-time raid with helicopters was undertaken with no element of surprise (consistent with a commando operation), nor advance communication with the dissenters on the boats (consistent with a policing operation).
The negligences led to inhumane and inneffective policies, and now extreme embarrassment to the point where many are challenging Israel’s legitimacy to exist as a state. (It is not just talk by a fanatic few, now.)
3. The hypocrisy of the claims of non-violence, stated by the participants and proponents of the flotilla. There is a horrid video circulating the web in which dissenters clubbed Israeli commandos (absurdly exposed militarily by being dropped by line onto the ship’s deck).
It lends credence (more than credence) to the claims by Israel that shooting occurred only on the basis of the commandos’ fears for their lives.
A perfect storm of negligence and indiscipline.
Its the old game there. Which story gets told? What starting point? All propaganda.
At the risk of sounding vain, I predicted all of this, that the civil disobedience wasn’t in fact non-violent, that the confrontation with the flotilla would be botched, that the engagement of Turkish flagged ships would be construed as a military assault on Turkey, that the event would be seen as parallel to the 1946-48 dramatic Exodus ships arriving in Israel.
I have to apologize for myself not practicing what I preach. Specifically, I (like the Israeli high command) did not review the policy of blockade from multiple perspectives. I was swayed in reaction to the dogmatism of dissent, and allowed myself to form positions in reacton rather than in thought.
But most importantly, there is still no practical proposal offered by dissent, US, EU, Arab League, Israel. There is no clear set of demands that can be conditionally evaluated, negotiated, applied.
There actually are pieces of proposals floating around published and web sources, but you have to dig to find them. The journalists (right-wing, centrist, or left) aren’t articulating them. Its still in the blame phase.
The only feasible proposal that has emerged, that I heard, came from Hamas of all sources, but prior to the confrontation. Saturday, an interview that Charlie Rose conducted with the Hamas leader Meshal (from Syria) was published. Meshal offered to allow a Gaza international port to be developed and managed by international supervision (not by Hamas). It was a surprise to hear.
I don’t hear any viable long-term proposals though. The status of Hamas as alternatively a militia/governance remains. The Palestinians are still not subjects of any sovereign state (neither Gaza, West Bank, refugee camps in Lebanon where even after 60 years residence they are denied citizenship). There is no reliable proposal for Palestinian unity government with any moderation within a two-state setting. Fatah and Hamas are still in a heightened state of conflict, though this will push Fatah towards a more militant stance, and possibly towards a unity government, but not likely a moderate one.
There is much talk even among otherwise sober and less fanatic dissenters for abandoning the goal of two-states for two-people, in favor of a single state from river to sea (but including Gaza). It would appeal to western sensitivities for a democratic civil state like modern western states, but without precedent in the region (maybe Lebanon, not a great precedent). And, it would be the end of Zionism as a state effort, the end of the dream of it (worth preserving), and of the current status of it (worth changing).
I think Zionism is important, Jewish self-governance, in protection from persecution and in its own right. But, if we don’t self-govern in a way that lives and lets live, it will and has devolved to suppression.
Politics born of anger are a car careening down a winding road, successfully moving forward fast, but ignoring exhaust fumes, road kill, bicyclists and pedestrians, and ignoring smelling the roses
The flotilla will confidently achieve the relative opening of Gaza’s borders, a success. But, it will not give Gaza/Hamas the implication of sovereignty of open borders. The borders will still be blockaded, opened relatively and conditionally, and likely Turkey will participate in that blockade if Haaretz reports are accurate.
link to haaretz.com
“Politics born of anger are a car careening down a winding road, successfully moving forward fast, but ignoring exhaust fumes, road kill, bicyclists and pedestrians, and ignoring smelling the roses”
Richard Witty June 12, 2010 at 5:14 pm
To put it another way: everyone smiles as you drift past the flowers, that grow so incredibly HIGH.